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Arts Funding Issues...

The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency that nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage.

The 15 members of the Wisconsin Arts Board have recently developed this position piece as an Op Ed article and sent it to the state's media outlets (paper, tv and radio). The Arts Board Chair urges you to contact your local media—if you haven't seen or heard a reference to it locally—to ask them to run it, and to use the opportunity to voice your thoughts.

The talking points that the Board developed are on the Arts Board home page (www.artsboard.wisconsin.gov ), and there is a great deal more information to see when you go to www.artswisconsin.org .

For more information, please visit:
Wisconsin Arts Board
Arts Wisconsin

Letter From the Members of the Wisconsin Arts Board:

As your citizen representatives to Wisconsin’s state arts agency, and as business owners, employers, and employees in the non-profit and public sectors, the 15 members of the Wisconsin Arts Board understand that big cuts to state spending are necessary to balance the upcoming biennial budget. We also know that communities continue to reel from the economic crisis, and that job creation must be a top priority.

The current budget proposal includes plans to dissolve the Arts Board and cut the state’s investment in its arts and culture sector by 73% - a mistake if we are serious about economic recovery and new job creation.

Funding to the Arts Board currently represents no more than .013% of the budget (13 thousandths of 1 percent) but that small investment pays huge dividends in the resiliency of regional economies in every part of the state. Grants and more than 10,000 hours per year of expert consulting to non-profit organizations and artists protect and maintain the cultural infrastructure of the state. A vibrant cultural scene contributed to drawing the promise of 200 new high-paying jobs to Eau Claire in 2009, the lowest ebb of the crisis. That cultural infrastructure convinces companies looking to locate in Wisconsin that they can grow in a dynamic setting in every corner of the state. That infrastructure has become as essential as roads and bridges to development, recruitment and retention of a competitive workforce and the businesses that follow.

The Arts Board is the only state agency providing leadership and support to develop the state's creative economy. This dynamic sector enjoys a 14% annual growth rate in the world economy; in Wisconsin, it boasts 3.6% of total employment. The Arts Board put our state at the helm of the National Creativity Network, and helps local and regional economic development organizations develop their creative industries.

We lead education innovation to develop all our state's children's creative capacities. We’ve been developing rural and urban models for partnerships that ensure vibrant, creative communities become the breeding ground for entrepreneurs and new jobs. We sponsored research that demonstrates our partners' out-sized direct economic impact on local economies. The Wisconsin Arts Board is recognized nationally as a leader in supporting community development and creativity in education; it leverages impressive private philanthropy with the influential imprimatur of state grants, and provides a point of investment for national interests.

Even though the Arts Board has not seen an increase in state funding since 1992, we will willingly take a 10% cut to do our part to help address the deficit. This cut, proportionate to cuts other state agencies have been asked to take, will still allow us to provide high-quality services, smart development of our cultural infrastructure and workforce, and to help Wisconsin’s communities attract new jobs.

We encourage everyone to let your legislators know that elimination of this citizen-led agency would cripple the jobs agenda and be a false economy by many measures.

Knowledge and expertise would be lost, organizations and businesses rendered more vulnerable, and jobs lost instead of created. Insist our state maintain a bright jobs future with the ongoing leadership of the Wisconsin Arts Board.

Wisconsin Arts Board
Barbara Lawton, Algoma, Chair
Bruce Bernberg, Racine, Vice Chair
Paul Meinke, Green Bay, Secretary
Storm G. Elser, Chenequa, Board Member
Susan Friebert, Milwaukee, Board Member
James H. Hall, Milwaukee, Board Member
Jerry Hembd, Superior, Board Member
John Hendricks, Sparta, Board Member
Deborah Janz, Spencer, Board Member
Helen R. Klebesadel, Madison, Board Member
Nick Meyer, Eau Claire, Board Member
Barbara E. Munson, Mosinee, Board Member
Glenda P. Noel-Ney, Madison, Board Member
Sharon Stewart, Washburn, Board Member
Robert A. Wagner, Milwaukee, Board Member

The Arts Matter!

An important message from Americans for the Arts

You can help today!

National Arts Advocacy Day is a united effort to tell Capitol Hill how important culture is to our communities, how much arts education means to our children, and how much the arts improve our daily lives.

Click here to hear Kevin Spacey's speech about the arts!

You can still participate in Arts Advocacy Day by asking your Members of Congress to support the arts. Visit our E-Advocacy Center, and you'll be able to send a message in less than two minutes directly to your Representative and Senators telling them why the arts are important to you and your community. We urge you to send your message to Congress today!

Art Advocacy Day!

TODAY, hundreds of dedicated arts supporters from across the country have come together in Washington, DC for National Arts Advocacy Day, a united effort to tell Capitol Hill how important culture is to our communities, how much arts education means to our children, and how much the arts improve our daily lives. 84 National CoSponsors have helped us shape this united arts message to Congress. The 24th annual Arts Advocacy Day is organized by Americans for the Arts and is presented this year in partnership with Ovation, the only television network devoted to arts and culture.

Americans for the Arts is beginning the day with a Kickoff event at the U.S. House of Representatives. We are very pleased that our President & CEO Robert Lynch will be joined by several other national leaders in the arts, including Academy Award-winning actor Kevin Spacey, and Emmy Award-winning actor Alec Baldwin.

Even if you’re not able to join us in Washington, you can still participate in Arts Advocacy Day by asking your Members of Congress to support the arts. Visit our E-Advocacy Center, and you’ll be able to send a message in less than two minutes directly to your Representative and Senators telling them why the arts are important to you and your community. We urge you to send your message to Congress today to coincide with our office visits to the Hill.

Need more information? Browse the 2011 Congressional Arts Handbook for issue briefs, voting records, latest arts research and trends, relevant Congressional committees, and Congressional contact lists.

On Twitter? Follow @Americans4Arts and track all the action in Washington, DC at #AAD11!

Help us continue this important work by becoming an official member of the Arts Action Fund. If you are not already a member play your part by joining the Arts Action Fund today -- it's free and simple.

Act now--State of the Union

On January 25th, President Barack Obama delivered his annual State of the Union speech before the United States Congress where he addressed three areas of concern that resonate with arts advocates: federal spending, jobs and education policy. Earlier this week, 165 conservative members of Congress representing the Republican Study Committee called for termination of the National Endowment for the Arts and key arts education programs at the U.S. Department of Education. We know that the battle to protect these programs will be tough this year, but with your help, not insurmountable.

Please take two minutes to take action and send a message to your member of Congress in support of the National Endowment for the Arts or Arts Education at the U.S. Department of Education.

Several major newspapers across the country interviewed Americans for the Arts President and CEO Bob Lynch in response to the dubious notion that cutting the arts will actually reduce the nation’s deficit. In today’s New York Times, Bob pointed out that the arts support 5.7 million jobs in the United States that generate about $30 billion in taxes, nearly $13 billion of which goes to the federal government and said, "If they’re serious about jobs and they’re serious about income, they would invest more in the arts.”

Quote from President of Upstream Research for Exxon Mobil

Steve Greenlee, President of Upstream Research for Exxon, and musician-turned-scientist, speaking about scientists on his team stated, "We actually have a lot of scientists who play music. The creativity. The innovation. There's definitely a tie there."

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"In 1999 at PS96 in East Harlem, only 13% of the students performed at grade level in reading or math. Eighteen months after the music program was restore, 71% of the students were performing at grade level. The principal, Victor Lopez, attributes this astounding success to the restoration of the music."
-http://www.amc-music.com/musiceducation/social.htm

"The challenge to American education has never been simply to raise test scores — that is a relatively recent and limited goal. The challenge has always been to raise citizens who are capable of active participation in the social, cultural, political and economic life of the world’s longest experiment in democracy, an experiment demanding a free, educated and committed citizenry. We are amazed to discover anew the role of the arts in realizing that vision and creating that democracy."
Source: Lauren M. Stevenson and Richard J. Deasy, Third Space: When Learning Matters, Arts Education Partnership, 2005.

"College admissions officers continue to cite participation in music as an important factor in making admissions decisions. They claim that music participation demonstrates time management, creativity, expression, and open-mindedness.”
- Carl Hartman, "Arts May Improve Students’ Grades," The Associated Press, October, 1999.

"According to a 1991 study, students in schools with arts-focused curriculums reported significantly more positive perceptions about their academic abilities than students in a comparison group."
- Pamela Aschbacher and Joan Herman, The Humanitas Program Evaluation, 1991.

"A ten-year study indicates that students who study music achieve higher test scores, regardless of socioeconomic background."
- Dr. James Catterall, UCLA.

"Music training helps under-achievers. In Rhode Island, researchers studied eight public school first grade classes. Half of the classes became "test arts" groups, receiving ongoing music and visual arts training. In kindergarten, this group had lagged behind in scholastic performance. After seven months, the students were given a standardized test. The "test arts" group had caught up to their fellow students in reading and surpassed their classmates in math by 22 percent. In the second year of the project, the arts students widened this margin even further. Students were also evaluated on attitude and behavior. Classroom teachers noted improvement in these areas also."
Source: Nature May 23, 1996

"The Kettle Moraine school district in Wales, Wisconsin is requiring piano lessons for all K-5 pupils after seeing encouraging results from a district pilot program. District officials based their pilot program on research findings that show music training - specifically piano instruction - is far superior to computer instruction in enhancing children’s abstract reasoning skills."
- Karen Abercrombie, Education Week, October 14, 1998.

"One in three of today’s school-aged children will hold an arts-related job at some time in his or her career."

"The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania School District analyzed its 1997 dropout rate in terms of students' musical experience. Students with no ensemble performance experience had a dropout rate of 7.4 percent. Students with one to two years of ensemble experience had a dropout rate of 1 percent, and those with three or more years of performance experience had a dropout rate of 0.0 percent."

Arts Funding Issues...

The Wisconsin Arts Board is the state agency that nurtures creativity, cultivates expression, promotes the arts, supports the arts in education, stimulates community and economic development and serves as a resource for people of every culture and heritage.

Letter From the Members of the Wisconsin Arts Board:

The Arts Matter!

An important message from Americans for the Arts

You can help today!

Art Advocacy Day!

Act now--State of the Union

Please take two minutes to take action and send a message to your member of Congress in support of the National Endowment for the Arts or Arts Education at the U.S. Department of Education.

Quote from President of Upstream Research for Exxon Mobil

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